Refrigerator Water Filter Stuck Repair

Refrigerator Water Filter Stuck Repair

Our Frigidaire refrigerator normally reminds us and we routinely replace the air & water filters every 6 months.

The procedure for replacing the water filter, although not intuitive, is very easy.  To pull out the old filter, you push it in against some kind of internal spring mechanism and when it “bottoms out”, you let it spring back and out.  This unlocks it and you can pull it the rest of the way out.  Normally this takes about 2 seconds.

This time, however, when I went to push it in, it didn’t budge.  Eventually I worked it loose and could push it in, but it failed to release.

I did an internet search to see if I could find a simple way to resolve the problem.  I found several solutions.  One was to tilt the outside end of the filter upwards while pushing in.  Another was to push upwards on the inside end of the water filter while pushing the filter inwards.  None of these methods worked.

Another person recommended taking the filter assembly apart in order to get the filter out.  Since nothing else was working, I thought I’d try that.  Although the refrigerator is still under warranty, I doubted the warranty would cover the repair because I was using a 3rd party water filter.  Below shows the generic filter I was using together with the brand name filter.

Disassembling the Filter Assembly

• Unplug the refrigerator
• Turn off the water supply valve to the refrigerator.
• Pry off the left panel with a flat blade screw driver.

• Remove screw holding the elongated filter receptacle and pull it out to remove it

• Put a cup or towel under it to catch dripping water.
• Disconnect the 2 water hoses, remembering their positions. Using a small crescent wrench hold the blue ring up to unlock and allow you to pull the connecting hose downward to disconnect it.
• Remove the 4 screws holding the filter base.
• Slide the filter and filter base downwards so that the filter base slides out of its slot.
• Although these pictures don’t show it, remember the filter was stuck to the base, so they both get removed together as one unit.

Separating the Filter from the Filter Base

Even with the filter and filter base removed from the refrigerator I had much difficulty separating them.  Each of these parts has a white plastic saw tooth patterned connector that mesh together creating the lock.  This connector had slid out of alignment on the filter side.  Even after pushing it back into alignment I had to play with it a while to finally separate them.  I was worried I might have damaged the filter base in the process of separating it from the filter.

First attempt

I reassembled everything using the old filter base and another 3rd party filter I had.  The filter did not go on as easily as it should and the click/lock of it popping into place was muffled.  When I tested it, there was water leaking from the supply pipes.

2nd Attempt: Putting it Back Together

I ordered OEM Frigidaire water filters and a replacement OEM Frigidaire water filter base.  I didn’t know which caused the problem.  Was it a worn out base which damaging the filter?  Was it  a defective 3rd party filter not ejecting properly and then damaging the base in the efforts used to separate them?  So, not being able to pinpoint it, I ordered OEM replacements for both  water filters and the filter base.

Reversing the previous order, I reassembled the unit.

1. Filter base
2. Reconnect the water supply hoses (I lubricated the hoses with silicone to ensure they seated fully)
3. Filter cover
4. Filter side cover
5. Filter  (the new OEM filter effortlessly popped in and locked in place)
6. Side filter cover
7. Plug in refrigerator
8. Turn on water supply to refrigerator.

I tested it out and everything worked perfectly.

Many 3rd party / generic items work fine for most things, but I’m going to stick to the OEM water filters for this refrigerator.

This video was helpful in understanding how to do the above repair.

See Also:

• Clatterans refrigerator water filter review